Losing Lila (7 page)

‘OK, let’s do this,’ he finally said, clearly having decided that he could trust me. ‘She’s next door, in Demos’s room.’

Rachel sat on the edge of the bed, her ankles and hands bound together and a gag in her mouth. She was wearing a pair of ugly grey sweatpants, cheap white sneakers and a T-shirt three sizes too large, with the slogan ‘Tijuana makes me HAPPY’ stamped on the front in big red letters. The whole picture combined to make
me
very happy.

Rachel’s eyes were vacant, her face blank. She looked like a recently salvaged thrift store mannequin, one where the sheen had worn off the plastic limbs and the wig had taken on a life of its own.

‘OK, go ahead and unfreeze her, Demos,’ Alex said, and it was only then that I noticed Demos looming over her, giving her one of his
you will do exactly as I say
stares.

Demos stepped aside and Rachel suddenly blinked into consciousness. A sneer instantly replaced the vacuous, glazed expression. Her eyes widened immediately at the sight of me and Alex standing in front of her.

My gut tightened, my jaw tensing so hard that my teeth ground against each other audibly. Both Demos and Alex turned and shot me warning looks.
OK, OK
, I whispered silently to myself.
Control. I’ve got it under control. I can do this. I will not kill her. I will not kill her. At least not quite yet.

Suki was focusing hard on Rachel, her brow furrowed with concentration. I wondered if Rachel was busy singing nursery rhymes in her head, but she seemed too distracted by the sight of me and Alex in the room and her eyes were darting all over the place as she struggled to get her bearings. I noticed her gaze fly to Alex’s arm, where the bottom of a bandage could be seen poking out from under his sleeve, and a frown gratifyingly puckered her forehead.

Alex walked over to her and pulled the gag down. ‘Rachel,’ he said, by way of greeting.

‘Alex,’ she replied coolly, ‘how lovely to see you.’ Her eyes flicked towards me like a serpent’s tongue. ‘Still babysitting the mutant, I see.’

‘You not going to play nice, Rachel?’ Alex asked in a pleasant tone.

She blew her hair out of her face, unable to use her hands. ‘I just don’t get it, Alex,’ she said.

‘You don’t get what?’ he asked.

‘What you see in her.’

I felt her gaze travelling up my body like a rash. I hadn’t ever realised what hackles were, but now I was feeling them rise. The urge to take something heavy and smack Rachel over the head with it was growing. There was a wide-screen television fixed to the wall. I wondered how hard it would be to tear it from its hinges and spin it at her, Frisbee-style. Then the thought vanished, along with any desire to do violence. I felt floaty good. I glanced at Demos out of the corner of my eye. He raised his eyebrows at me in warning. He was right, I knew. In this situation I was the one who could afford a little magnanimity. I was, after all, the one with Alex. Not the one bound and gagged and wearing questionable clothing. But still . . .

‘You know what
I
don’t get?’ Alex said after a beat. ‘I don’t get why you’re doing this.’

‘Doing what?’ Rachel answered.

‘You know what. Why is the Unit doing this?’

‘Oh, come on, Alex, don’t be naive. Money makes the world go around.’

He stepped backwards, shaking his head. ‘That’s what this is all about?’

Why was he asking her this? We
knew
that’s what this was all about. Demos had already told me the Unit was trying to find a way of tweaking the genetic code that made us this way so they could create new weapons, which they would then sell to the highest bidder. Ergo – all about money.

‘What else would it be about?’ Rachel laughed, a high, braying noise that could have shattered glass.

‘Have you even considered the consequences?’

‘Oh please, don’t get all righteous on me. Wars will happen regardless. Man has always found a way to inflict harm. This way we get to at least choose the winning side. We get to make the world safer, Alex.’ Her eyes were burning brightly, lit by some kind of scary evangelical fervour.

‘Safer according to who?’ Alex snapped back. ‘According to whichever madman pays you the most?’

Rachel considered him for a moment. ‘Hmmmm. You know your problem, Alex?’ she said after a while. ‘You always get bogged down by morality. You could do with losing a few scruples. You’d sleep easier.’

‘I’m sleeping pretty easy, thanks,’ Alex said. ‘Be sleeping even easier if I knew the Unit was no longer in existence.’

‘Keep dreaming,’ she sneered at him. ‘You think you and your band of sub-mediocre
Heroes
rejects here have any chance of putting us out of action?’

Alex looked at Demos and then me before turning back to her. ‘I think we made a pretty good start, don’t you?’ he said. ‘We’re here, after all. And you’re the one trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey.’

‘So, you managed to put a few teams out of action.’ Rachel shrugged. ‘There are plenty more where they came from. You’re just foot soldiers. Useful, but expendable.’ She took pleasure in the last word, spitting it at him and watching greedily for his reaction.

Alex stared at her for a few seconds. His face remained inscrutable. But I could see that his eyes had turned to ice.

‘You can’t take one step on that base, Alex,’ Rachel continued, the southern twang of her voice adding a warmth that the words belied. ‘You’ll be history. The military police will come down on you so hard you won’t know what hit you. You fired on your own men. You think what
we
do is bad? Just wait till you’re locked in a six by eight cell with a psychotic Marine for the rest of your life, you’ll be wishing you had less scruples then.’ She laughed and for a second she looked like a deranged Barbie doll. Then her face blanked out, the fire dying in her eyes and the sneer dropping off her face.

I looked over at Demos who was now giving her one of his
just be quiet
stares. Once again I envied the man.

‘What are you getting?’ Alex asked, turning to Suki.

Suki pulled a face. ‘Just the same old craziness. She has some interesting ideas about what she wants to do to you – and let’s just say they’re not the same ideas that Lila and Nate have.’

‘OK, unfreeze her again,’ Alex said to Demos.

Once more Rachel blinked then scowled up at Demos, baring her perfect white teeth as if she wanted to tear out his jugular with them.

‘What’s the Unit working on?’ Alex asked, his voice gentle, almost kind.

I shook my head. Was this how they taught them to interrogate in the Marines? Maybe it was time we skipped the non-violent Gandhi approach and started on the Jack Bauer method. I would be happy to take the lead.

‘Whoa.’ Suki suddenly reeled backwards.

‘What?’ I asked, thinking that maybe she’d heard my thoughts.

‘What is it?’ Alex asked simultaneously.

‘They’re doing some kind of weird experiments – I’m not sure – it’s not clear.’ Suki had turned as white as a sheet, her eyes locked on Rachel.

Rachel smiled smugly up at her. ‘Well done, you read correctly. Give the girl a gold star – I was wondering whether you actually were a mind-reader or not. We are experimenting – and we’re this close to a breakthrough. You know,’ she said, looking at me now, ‘your mum’s been really helpful, Lila.’

I felt my heart come to a shuddering halt and Demos’s hand squeeze my shoulder, another warning.

‘Soon we won’t be needing her anymore,’ Rachel went on. ‘We’ll be looking for other freaks to experiment on. Maybe we could start with you.’

Demos cut her off before she could say anything more, freezing her with her mouth wide open and twisted into a snarl. Alex stepped quickly forward and pushed the gag back in.

I spun round and headed for the door before I lost it completely. The television was wobbling on its bracket, and I wasn’t sure if I could get through the door without using it to decapitate her.

Outside the room I turned to Alex. ‘So, what do we do now?’ I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. ‘Can we use Rachel as collateral? Offer her in exchange for my mum?’

Alex shook his head. ‘I’ve thought about that already, but I can’t see how it’ll work. I know him. Richard Stirling wouldn’t put Rachel ahead of his business interests.’

‘Who’s Richard Stirling?’ I asked.

‘Rachel’s father,’ Demos answered, appearing behind Alex. ‘Richard Stirling is the man who set up the Unit. He’s the man who bribed the senator your mother was working for, who ordered your mother’s kidnap and who then faked her murder.’ I watched the way Demos’s jaw tensed as he spoke and realised how shocked and angry he still was. He seemed to be the only person other than me who felt it in the same way. I’d had a week to absorb the news that my mum was actually alive, and I was still reeling with disbelief. It looked like Demos was struggling to come to terms with it too. He carried on talking.

‘Stirling has a business empire so wide and so pervasive that not even the taxman can follow its loops and trails. He has business interests in every country America is at war with, officially and unofficially. He’s on first-name terms with half the military dictators on the planet.’

‘I met him once,’ Alex spoke up. ‘Two years ago. He came to the base. He didn’t come all that often – he left Rachel in charge of business there. He lives in Washington.’

‘We can’t use Rachel as an exchange,’ Suki piped up, ‘because, let’s face it, who’d want her back? So, what do we do? How do we rescue Lila’s mum?’

‘And Jack,’ Demos added, before I could.

I looked round at everyone then took a deep breath. ‘I have an idea,’ I said.

‘No way.’ Alex stood up from where he was kneeling in front of me and walked away.

I felt the painful stretch of the invisible ties – electrons or protons or whatever they were – that connected me to Alex. They snapped and fizzed with every step he took further from me. I got up and went after him. He had his back turned to me and was standing in the doorway of our room, looking out over the ocean. I’d brought him back here to talk to him in private about my idea. Now I was glad that I had.

‘Alex,’ I said, putting my arms round his waist and resting my cheek against his shoulder blade, ‘just hear me out.’

He ran his thumb along the length of my arm and then turned to face me, his expression hard. But after a few seconds it softened and he nodded. We went and sat on the edge of the bed, side by side.

I took a deep breath. ‘They don’t know about me. Only Rachel knows what I am.’ I stopped abruptly, thinking back to Joshua Tree, wishing that I’d never given myself away. It was a big mistake. I could tell from Alex’s pursed lips that he wished the same. ‘You said it yourself,’ I continued, taking his hand, ‘otherwise the Unit would have fired that thing at me. They don’t know anything other than that Demos kidnapped me and that you and Jack busted Alicia and Thomas out in order to rescue me. They have no clue that I’m one of them – that I’m a . . . psy.’ I hated using the word; it made me sound like I should be locked up in a padded cell wearing only a straitjacket, but for want of another term, I used it anyway.

‘It’s too dangerous,’ Alex said, standing up and marching across the room once more. ‘If they find out about you . . .’ His words trailed off as he spun round to face me.

‘They won’t.’

‘They will. You take one step inside their headquarters and you’ll trigger the alarm.’

I frowned. ‘You said the alarm only triggers if someone uses their power – well, what if I don’t?’

I could see him pausing to think about it. ‘Is that right?’ I pressed. ‘Could I get inside?’

‘Yes,’ he finally agreed, ‘but it’s too dangerous, Lila. I can’t let you do this.’

I sighed. ‘I have to go, Alex – I have to try. It’s the only way. You said we needed a way in. Maybe I’m the way in. If I’m on the base, if I’m in the headquarters, then maybe I can find that chink – maybe. I know it’s a long shot, but it’s the only idea we’ve got right now.’

Alex held my gaze, his eyes the blue of the sea just outside. ‘What will you do if I say no?’ he asked.

I hesitated. He saw the answer in my eyes and the flare of anger that crossed his face sent a stab of pain right through me. ‘Please. I need to go back,’ I said, walking across the room and taking his hand. ‘I can tell them you let me go. That I was slowing you down – that you were scared of them catching up with you. I’ll say that you knew you were in trouble for breaking the rules, for turning on your own men, so you’re running. They’ll have to let me see Jack. I’m his sister.’

‘They know you were with Demos. They’ll assume he told you about what the Unit is really doing, and about your mum.’

‘I’ll act like he didn’t say anything. I’ll tell them that he tried to kill me like he killed my mother.’

‘You’re the world’s worst liar,’ Alex countered, pulling his hand from mine.

I’d already considered that. I’d been working on this plan for a few days. ‘Well,’ I said, ‘I’ll tell the truth, just not the whole truth. That way I won’t have to lie.’

He cocked an eyebrow at me. ‘Sara will see through you. She’s trained to interrogate people who are far more skilled than you at lying.’

I shook this thought off. ‘We don’t know what Sara knows,’ I argued, ‘or how involved she is. She could have been fooled like you and Jack.’ I could hear the desperation in my voice and tried to rein it in. I needed to sound confident not desperate. ‘We might be able to get Sara on our side. She loves Jack. I can’t believe she’s one of them.’

Alex sighed. ‘I can’t either. But if you’d told me two weeks ago what the Unit was really doing, I wouldn’t have believed that either. It’s too dangerous, Lila. There has to be another way.’

I took a step closer towards him. ‘Alex, you know there isn’t. If there was another way, believe me I’d take it. But I have to do this. This is my mother and brother we’re talking about.’

Alex stared at me fiercely. ‘This is
you
we’re talking about.’ I felt my resolve falter.

‘I’m coming with you,’ he said. ‘You’re not doing this alone.’

I smiled up at him. ‘I was hoping you’d say that.’